Monday, August 17, 2009

A Rainy 5K

My sister and I ran our first 5K together last night. It was a different kind of 5K than I'm used to, and I honestly had a tougher time than I thought I would. Here's what happened.
I think the original sign-up email had the wrong time, because until the day of the race (when I picked up my packet and spoke to my sis about it), I was under the impression that it started at 6. It didn't. It started at 5:30. When we were lining up to start, I realized I was not alone in this mistaken belief. Others jumped on the back of the line, saying with wide eyes and trembling voices, "I thought we were starting at 6!" Nope.
My sister, a born athlete, took off at the beginning of the race and I didn't glimpse her again until I was about to cross the finish line. I had hoped we would stay together, but I would have held her back, so we separated. A light rain started to fall, which almost sounds refreshing, right? Wrong. It was prickly and aimed at my eyes! How does rain aim itself? Anyway, the rain didn't last long, and the humidity built up once again.
Did I mention the race was 5:30 in the evening? Yep, it was.
The course ended a bit of a distance from the start line, and we were to take trolleys back to the baseball stadium. I have to admit, a trolley ride is always fun, so I didn't mind that one bit.
As I was about to cross the finish line, my sister came back to cheer me on. She encouraged me to sprint to the end, and she held 2 cups of water in her hands. "Do you want me to throw it on your face?" she yelled. "YES!" I screamed back. And WHAM! water in the face, up the nose, in the eyes. Ha - I asked for it!
My sister is the best.